MEPs seek to inject more ambition into reform of rules on exchange of tax information
Economic and monetary affairs MEPs on Wednesday adopted their proposals to amend the existing rules on information exchange and administrative cooperation in the field of taxation.
MEPs adopted the changes to the Commission's proposal by 43 votes in favour, 4 against and 5 abstentiosn. These changes will now be tabled for a plenary vote. After the plenary vote, the resulting changes will be put to the member states to be considered when Council adopts its position.
After the vote, the rapporteur for the House’s opinion Rasmus Andresen (Greens/EFA, DE) said,
"Today the economic and monetary affairs committee delivered a strong message of ambition towards the Council.
“A few weeks ago the Council reached a weak agreement on the 8th revision of the Directive on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation (DAC8). In it member states omitted important aspects such as the minimum penalties proposed by the European Commission and a definition of high net worth individuals.
“As Parliament, we have voted the exact opposite. We favour common minimum penalties for non-reporting, especially in the most critical areas such as those covered by the DAC 2 directive (sharing of information on bank accounts held in another member state) and the DAC 4 directive (sharing of the country-by-country reports submitted by companies), and we agreed on a definition of high net worth individuals.
“The European Parliament has today continued supporting several reforms to the DAC framework not yet taken up by the Commission, such as the expansion of what needs to be exchanged, such as income and capital gains from financial assets and luxurious assets. Finally, we also request the Commission to look into setting up a European Taxpayer Identification Number."